OPINION: The Local's contributor Paul Connolly asks how and why a far-right party managed to become a serious political contender in Sweden's general election.

Here's a scenario: This European country's economy is in overdrive. The unemployment rate is 6.8 percent, level with the EU average, and still falling. Youth unemployment is at a 15-year low.

Child benefit has been increased, and money has been poured into the health, police and education systems.

Successive surpluses have cut public debt to the lowest levels since the late 1970s.

The economy is booming and the state continues to provide a strong welfare safety net, a net that serves to encourage a well-developed entrepreneurial impulse among many of its citizens.

These are surely glorious times. Salad days.

Of course, there are also problems. It's taking too long to integrate immigrants, with the unemployment rate another 10 percentage points higher than for natives. Hospital waiting times are another issue, although when you do finally reach the front of the queue, medical care is still regarded as world-class.

Surely a political party leading the government in charge of a country in such fine fettle would comfortably win any general election with a vastly increased share of the vote. Wouldn't it?

Instead the Social Democrats, the party that leads the government coalition that has overseen this period of growth, are likely to record their lowest share of the vote ever, at lower than 25 percent.

And the Sweden Democrats, a political party with its roots in the neo-Nazi movement, is on course to pick up a whopping 20 percent or more of the popular vote in a country which has always prided itself on being at the vanguard of the global progressive movement.

And how have the Sweden Democrats, the polite(ish) faces of a barbaric far-right movement, edged so close to power they might be kingmakers in the next parliament?

The answer is nuanced.

It's partially the fault of the Swedish establishment. They've allowed the entire political agenda to be hijacked by the immigration issue.

The media, and the mainstream political parties, have always refused to countenance that there is a diverse, but substantial, anti-immigrant sentiment at work in Sweden. Sweden is not hugely racist but there have always been anti-immigrant elements.

They continued to refuse to engage with immigration as a political issue, even when, in 2015 more than 100,000 refugees poured in and it was clear that this was an extraordinary influx of newcomers that would affect some people's lives.

The inability to accept this strain of right-wing Swedish social thought has long been problematic.

The Sweden Democrats, propelled by Jimmie Åkesson's clever, deceptive leadership, exploited this gap by closely following the far-right "playbook" to appear to be a true alternative to the established parties.

By filling this vacuum in political debate, the SD provoked the media into engaging with them. And then the media, nudged out of its comfort zone, decided it would deal with immigration. As it should have done 20 years ago.

But the media, possibly overcompensating for its previous disregard for the subject, didn't apply a critical filter to SD's views. The result? The pollution of the political discourse by half-truths, barefaced lies and bigotry.

Generally positive aspects of Swedish civic life (non-confrontation, consensus, inclusiveness) suddenly became a handicap to robust political debate. In the interest of political correctness, the media too rarely challenged SD's warped interpretation of the truth.

It legitimized the monsters. The unthinkable became mainstream.

By becoming such a clear apparent alternative the SD made all the others look exactly the same – a bunch of ineffectual political insiders who pander only to the elite.

This is nonsense of course, but to poorly-educated people who tend to rely on how they feel rather than on facts (as the unemployment figures show, immigrants are not taking Swedish native jobs), this dashing disregard for truth and civility is really attractive.

In the north, where I live, it's an even more remarkable state of affairs. Our region, Skellefteå, is growing, rich and very economically robust. It's also relatively racially homogenous.

Yet support for SD is thought to be around 22 percent.

Other than the Swedish media, there is another major culprit in this farrago: The Social Democrats themselves.

The Social Democrats' failure to consolidate their power might be blamed on another innately Swedish trait – The Law of Jante, the cultural compass that celebrates "everyman", discourages individual success and sets average as the goal.

The Social Democrats haven't just failed to trumpet their successes – they've barely admitted to them.

And there have only been token attempts to turn back the tide of far-right misinformation on social media, where more than 30 percent of pre-election stories have been found to be false and from far-right sources.

The Social Democrats' reticence and complacency have allowed the narrative to be driven by the SD.

This election could presage a real crisis of confidence in the media and the country as a whole. Sweden is often seen to be doing the right thing – if it can't educate and inform its populace efficiently, how can it ever be Europe's conscience again? How can it still be seen as in the vanguard of liberalism if 20-25 percent of its people remain so resistant to fact?

This may sound rather apocalyptic. But this is Sweden after all. Other Nordic countries such as Finland and Norway have long had sizable right-wing populist parties in parliament. But they remain open, welfare states with strong economies. This is a testing time for Swedish society, for sure. It might even redraw the political landscape. But Sweden is still too robust and mature to self-combust. Sense will – eventually – prevail.

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Tim but dim - 07 Sep 2018 16:10

"This is nonsense of course, but to poorly-educated people who tend to rely on how they feel rather than on facts (as the unemployment figures show, immigrants are not taking Swedish native jobs), this dashing disregard for truth and civility is really attractive."

As usual the poorly-educated are blamed for the rise of the right. More falsehoods from the left and liberal elite, who are almost solely to blame for the rise of the right in Sweden in their refusal to discuss anything that is uncomfortable. This is simply not an argument or a proven fact. Few people in Sweden are poorly educated. The “people” referred to might be blue-collar workers, pensioners, or small business owners, but poorly educated? With Sweden’s educational system? Statistically unlikely.

“And there have only been token attempts to turn back the tide of far-right misinformation on social media, where more than 30 per cent of pre-election stories have been found to be false and from far-right sources.”

So only 70% of SD’s stories are correct? Then they have nothing to say, do they? No validity, no reason to voice concerns for 13% of the public (soon to be a lot more no doubt). That's fine then.

“The media, and the mainstream political parties have always refused to countenance that there is a diverse, but substantial, anti-immigrant sentiment at work in Sweden. Sweden is not hugely racist but there have always been anti-immigrant elements.”

Large numbers of SD voters are not anti-immigration. They are anti-illegal immigration. There is a big difference. A huge difference. The mudslinging continues.

“This election could presage a real crisis of confidence in the media and the country as a whole. Sweden is often seen to be doing the right thing – if it can't educate and inform its populace efficiently, how can it ever be Europe's conscience again? How can it still be seen as in the vanguard of liberalism if 20-25 per cent of its people remain so resistant to fact?”

There should be a crisis of confidence in the Swedish media. It is heavily left and liberal bias and offers little in the way of truly balanced reporting.

Sweden needs some balance itself. Not just the media. Get ALL the political parties at the table and discuss EVERYTHING with EVERY party. Don’t just cherry pick subjects because they are nice and fluffy and knock the right because it wins votes.

Discuss the housing crisis throughout all the major cities steered by the current government and exacerbated by the extraordinarily poorly administered influx of illegal immigrants.

Discuss the haemorrhaging of medical staff and the inability to recruit new qualified teachers to work in Swedish schools.

Face up to the queues for medical and dental treatment.

Talk about the excessive taxing of pensioners and the low paid (yes, the uneducated ones - I know).

Talk about how drug dealers are expanding and become increasingly lawless under the current regime.

Alternatively, keep quiet, pretend the Nazis SD are evil incarnate and all will be happy happy in cloud liberal cuckooland as the arrogance of the left and liberal elite push the Swedish people further and further towards parties of the right.